‘We’re lucky half of Flamborough didn’t burn down’: Farm owner vows cleanup of sanitizer-fuelled fire

A Flamborough farm owner figures he - and probably everyone for miles around - should be grateful firefighters managed to contain a raging fire fuelled by hand sanitizer that consumed two barns and burned for days.

Justin Holmes also vowed in an interview to clean up the mess and ensure the groundwater is protected.

That's what I want the town to know," said Holmes, who lives in a farmhouse that was saved by the combined efforts of dozens of firefighters from urban Hamilton and eight rural communities when a fire started on his property at 1802 Regional Road 97 on Aug. 11.

A disaster happened, we're lucky half of Flamborough didn't burn down and I'm going to make it right."

Fire officials said a significant quantity" of stored hand sanitizer caused the fire to burn stubbornly from that Thursday into Saturday. Two barns, some tractor-trailers and piles of hay bales were destroyed, but no one was injured in the blaze.

Holmes praised firefighters for containing the blaze in hot, breezy conditions - but also argued the sanitizer was not responsible for the fire.

The fire department said Thursday it appears welding repairs to a trailer on the property caused sparks that initially ignited a large pile of straw. The growing blaze later spread to a barn containing sanitizer - and the resulting alcohol-fed conflagration proved difficult to extinguish.

It's not clear exactly how much sanitizer was stored on the property, but assistant deputy fire chief Steve Welton said this week a July inspection found pallets of the ethanol-based material in containers stacked up to eight feet high.

Welton said the fire department was preparing an inspection order to fix four fire code violations related to the sanitizer and added the details had been delivered verbally" to the landowner Aug. 4 - or just a week before the blaze.

The sanitizer fire prompted concern among neighbours worried about groundwater contamination. Some residents have also separately asked the city and province about hundreds of loads of soil arriving at the property in recent months - a sight that makes many rural Hamilton residents nervous.

Holmes said he had rented farm space as a shuffle yard" to a logistics firm, which he would not name, to temporarily store surplus pandemic supplies like hand sanitizer, but also gels, wipes and gowns. He said the flammable liquid was stored in one-litre bottles and four-litre jugs, but suggested there wasn't as much sanitizer as you think."

The landowner said he was trying to comply with the fire department recommendations to provide more separation between buildings and sanitizer before the blaze happened. I wish they had told me to get it out of here," he said.

Holmes, who said he runs a construction company but also plans to grow crops on the former horse farm he bought in 2020, said an insurance fight among several parties" over cleanup costs may be brewing.

Regardless, he pledged to ensure the cleanup of firefighting water and other residue" continues until the provincial Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks is satisfied. The Spectator noted a silt fence and watched a remediation crew at work amid the barn ruins Wednesday.

He also acknowledged local worries about dirt dumping, but argued he is only importing clean topsoil to allow for future crops to be grown on the front 40 acres of the property. It's clean fill; I'm doing it right," said Holmes, who has posted apparent documents from a soil consulting firm at the entry to the property.

Hamilton has a bylaw governing the import of excess soil, but the city has so far not answered Spectator questions about soil used on the property. The province is reviewing the use of excess soil" on the site, but a planned inspection has not yet occurred, said ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler.

Wheeler said the ministry did not observe any off-site impacts" from the fire and is satisfied the fire douse water was contained. He also said the vast majority of sanitizer should have burned off because of its high alcohol content, but added the ministry is monitoring the ongoing property cleanup.

Wheeler said the ministry does not regulate the storage of alcohol-based sanitizer and it was not clear this week if the city is separately investigating whether the material was allowed on the property.

The agricultural land is not zoned to allow the manufacture or storage of sanitizer, but the city bylaw department said Tuesday it had not responded to the property for any enforcement related to the fire.

The fire was not considered suspicious and police said they were not investigating the blaze.

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com